A notorious intersection which has been the scene of fatal accidents will soon have a fully operational traffic signal.
Sumter County officials have announced that signal construction is near completion at U.S. 301 and County Road 472/County Road 216. The new traffic signal is scheduled to go into “flashing operation” beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 30, and continue until the signal is fully operational on Wednesday, Dec. 8. The existing stop signs and plastic traffic separators will remain effective until the intersection is placed into full operation.
A flashing red signal is treated as a “stop condition” and a flashing yellow signal is treated as a “proceed with caution,” according to Sumter County officials. If all signals at an intersection are flashing red or the intersection is dark, it should be treated as a four-way stop.
The intersection has been a source of concern for years as the growth of The Villages and the surrounding areas pours more and more traffic onto U.S. 301 and County Road 472, known as Rainey Trail in The Villages.
An 81-year-old Villager died as a result of a horrific crash earlier this year at the intersection. Catherine Lou Barnard, of the Village of Charlotte, died May 28 in the intensive care unit at Ocala Regional Medical Center after being flown there by helicopter in the wake of the crash which occurred at about noon May 25. She had been a passenger in a gray 2017 Honda CRV driven by her husband, 87-year-old Cornelius Barnard. Despite several surgeries, Catherine Barnard could not be saved.
Her husband apparently never recovered from the loss of his wife.
“After losing Cathy in May of 2021 as the result of a traffic accident, his heart was broken,” Cornelius Barnard’s obituary said. “On Sunday night August 22, 2021 he went to be with God.”
At the time of the accident involving the Barnards, a memorial was standing in remembrance of two teens killed months earlier at the same location.
Kathryn Leigh Thurgaland, 18, of Ocklawaha, and her 19-year-old boyfriend from Summerfield were killed in a crash Oct. 10, 2020 at that intersection.
As a result of the teens’ death, Wildwood City Manager Jason McHugh began pressing the Florida Department of Transportation to finish plans for the intersection so new signals could be installed.
